Andy Schumm Reflects on his 20-Year Career

Multi-instrumentalist Andy Schumm made some interesting comments regarding his career on the occasion of his 40th birthday in a Facebook posting. He wrote “I’m not usually big on birthdays, but this seems like a big one. More importantly, I mark the true beginning of my music career 20 years ago this year. Time for a little reflection.”

“I’m doing exactly what I wanted to be doing 20 years ago. After many years of trying to sort out what I wanted and who I was, I feel like I’m in the exact right place at the exact right time. I’ve learned the music business can be at times a nasty, nasty business. But I’ve also learned that, for me, it can produce extreme joy and profound meaning in a way that I cannot describe in words. I’m a lucky man because I’ve been able to do what makes me whole as a person my entire adult life.”

He concluded by expressing his appreciation to family and those who have had some role in furthering his career over the past 20 years. He expressed thanks “to the Honky Tonk BBQ and Green Mill Cocktail Lounge and all the people there who have blessed us with the two greatest steady gigs on the planet for all these years. Thank you to the Chicago Cellar Boys for actually making the music with me. Making music is like breaking bread to me, and I’m deeply honored that you’ve all been part of it with me. More to come. More Good Stuff is on the way, and I have no intention of letting up in the least.”

“Torchbearer for Jazz Age Music”

Referring back to an interview I did with Andy a decade ago that appeared in my first book, JAZZ BEAT, Notes on Classic Jazz, I asked how he became a torchbearer for the music of the Jazz Age. He revealed that as a pre-teen in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he discovered his father’s trumpet which had been stored away since the elder Schumm’s college days. He described it as “an instrument of convenience” to augment his piano lessons. After dabbling as a trumpet player through high school, he found a true passion for jazz while studying at the University of Illinois.

“My college experience was like living in the perfect world and learning so much about the music and just practicing,” he recalled. What sold him on 1920s jazz was hearing a Bix Beiderbecke recording. It was “At the Jazz Band Ball” played on an authentic Victor Horn Machine. During summer breaks, he started sitting in with Dixieland bands and soon discovered he could get more work as a 1920s musician than as a modern player.

“When I first started, I was concerned that there might not always be work available playing what some people consider old-time jazz. I was assured that I could always get a $50 gig with a Dixieland band. So playing the older styles of music just sort of fell into my lap, and I’ve never looked back. What has been most important to me, however, is being able to play good music.”

Bix Beiderbecke Influence

Bix Beiderbecke obviously had a huge influence on Andy as did Red Nichols, King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Jabbo Smith, and Tommy Dorsey (especially the trombonist’s covert recordings as a trumpeter). Andy points out that “Bix knew how to lead a band, how to lead with his horn, being able to tell the musicians what they should be doing and where they should be going. His solos were incredible.”

Among his mentors, Andy mentions Vince Giordano of Nighthawks fame and Ralph “Little Bix” Norton, leader of the Varsity Ramblers. Andy says Norton plays just like Bix. While cornet and piano are Andy’s primary instruments, he also plays the drums, trombone, flugelhorn, bass sax, clarinet, banjo as well as the melodica and frumpet. “It’s a good way to stay busy, and I like to understand the role each instrument plays in the band.”

(To digress briefly, a frumpet can be described as an unhallowed mating between a trumpet and a French horn. It has a mellow, horn-like tone and uses an embouchure similar to a trumpet’s. It can be heard on some of Red Nichols’ 1920s recordings, but never was widely accepted. It occasionally is used in college marching bands. Andy has written parts for the frumpet in some of the arranging he has done for a seven-piece band.)

(A melodica is a bit of a novelty and is like a reed organ, similar to the melodeon and harmonica. It has a musical keyboard [usually two or three octave long] and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into the side of the instrument. Adrian Rollini [whom Andy considers the most well-rounded musician of the 1920s] played an array of different instruments including the “goofus,” which was a forerunner of the melodica.)

Reflecting on his decision to make playing music of the 1920s his life’s work, Andy concluded our interview saying, “Music plays such a vital role in all our lives. Great music, regardless of style, challenges the mind and inspires the imagination. Music builds individuality and self-confidence as well as an understanding and acceptance of others. There’s so much good music out there that nobody is playing today. Some people may say that I sound like a dusty 78rpm recording, but I’m willing to do whatever it takes to play the good stuff. There will always be a place for it. It represents authentic America.”